National Seminar

on

DR. B. R. AMBEDKAR: CONTRIBUTION TO NATION BUILDING

13-14 April, 2016

Short Report:

Seminar Theme & Concept:

Since time immorial, peace, non-violence, morality and social justice are some of the most
valuable and enduring elements for nation building. The idea of nation building revolve around
the welfare of man through social and political action, respect for basic human dignity, respect
of human rights, and secularization of state. Although Indian society has been transforming
socio-economically and politically , but the plight of the common man still has not changed and
marginalized communities are facing problems under the current global scenario as their
problems are centuries old, manifold and complex in nature. Dr. B.R. Ambedkars vision was to
eradicate the social evils, disparities, injustice and to establish an egalitarian world society.

Dr B R Ambedkar, popularly known as Babasaheb Ambedkar, was an illustrious son of India

Dr Ambedkar left an indelible mark on Indian Polity, Society and Economy. His vision on nation
building was closely related to his ideal of a good society and ideal is based on the concept
Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Ambedkar’s vision of national building was geared with social
transformation and human progress. His contribution pervades the entire gamut of social life.
He is remembered and admired as nationalist, well known economist, a brilliant lawyer, a
Constitutionalist, author of various books, social activist, law maker, liberator, leader of
oppressed classes and women and the chief architect of the Indian Constitution.

Dr. Ambedkar tirelessly devoted to the reconstruction of modern India. He not only contributed
towards restructuring of the Indian social structure but also contributed in the fields of
agriculture irrigation, industrialization and modernization. In this field his important
contribution is welfare of the labour classes, agricultural irrigation and initiatives and
preparation of water transport schemes, flood control schemes, river transport schemes for
increasing power production. He suggested collective farming, equal distribution of land. Large
scale Industrialization of provision of providing money, water, seeds and fertilizers to farmers by
the government, cultivation of waste land by allotting waste land to landless labour, minimum
wages to labourers , control and regulation of private lenders of loan to farmers for solving the
problem of agriculture in India. Due to his efforts the 'Land Ceiling Act' was passed after
Independence.

Dr. Ambedkar knew that development of India was impossible without rapid industrialization.
He suggested that government should start large scale industries and smaller industries should
be kept in private sector and the insurance and transport companies should be nationalized.

Dr Ambedkar knew that without population control, Indian economy cannot flourish. He
forcefully argued for population control and family planning in India and it was due to his effort
that the government of India adopted family planning as a national policy.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s thoughts give amazing and constructive insights to the problem of the social
exclusion of the deprived and other excluded groups within India. His thoughts not only
conceptualized the social discrimination, but also focused on social emancipation and
continuously inspired discussions on the origins of the social injustices within the social, cultural
milieu of Indian society. Ambedkar's efforts to eradicate the social evils like untouchablity and
caste restrictions were remarkable. Throughout his life he fought for the rights of the Dalits and
other socially backward classes. His ideas revolved around the welfare of mankind through
social and political action, he stressed on respect for basic human dignity, human rights and
secularization of state. His belief in peace and non-violence, constitutional morality, social
justice are some of the most valuable and enduring elements of his political and social
philosophy which helps in building up humane and just society. His ultimate mission in life was
to construct a virtual bridge between the various classes of the society.

To commemorate his 125th birth anniversary, this National Seminar was an attempt not only to
evaluate the relevance of Dr. B R Ambedkar’s thoughts in contemporary India but also to
provide academicians and experts from different disciplines to discuss issues, priorities,
remedies, action plan, and strategies for social emancipation, economic empowerment,
educational advancement and participation of socially, culturally and racially marginalized
sections like scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, backward classes and women in India.

Objectives of the Seminar:

1. To provide a platform to share thoughts and perspectives of Dr. B R Ambedkar on Nation

2. To understand the vision and mission of Dr. B R Ambedkar for socio-economic, political,
religious and human rights reforms;

3. To sensitize the academicians, researchers, social activists and scholars towards Dr. B R.
Ambedkar’s thoughts on the problems social exclusion and inclusive policies;

4. To discuss and integrate social sciences perspectives with national & international
approaches in research, extension, training & education for advancement of knowledge
and capacity building of the marginalized sections suffering from racial and caste based
discrimination;

5. To discuss Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s vision and his road map towards social emancipation,
economic development, educational excellence and to promote the participation of weaker
sections of society in nation building;

6. To work out social action research plan and strategies in order to prepare latest modules
of social sciences with the ideology of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar for alleviation of the downtrodden
and eradication of social evils, social disparities & injustice and establishment of an
egalitarian nation;

7. To understand Dr.B.R.Ambedkar’s vision in the making of the Constitution and road map
set by him for a more humane and just society; and

8. To analyze and discuss the implementation of the tenets of the Constitution particularly
secularism, democracy, social justice and nationalism in contemporary India.
DAY 1

The inaugural session began with welcoming the Guests. Prof.(Retd.) S.D.Kapoor, JNVU,
Jodhpur was Chief Guest and Dr. B.R.Meghwal, IG, BSF as Guest of Honour. The head of the
Centre Mrs. K. B. Vandana, IPS, delivered the welcome address. And gave an overview of the
topic to be discussed i.e. Dr.B.R.Ambedkar: Contribution To Nation Building.Prof.
S.D.Kapoor critically analyzed the present scenario from the Ambedkar’s book “Annihilation of
Caste”. He made a comparative study situation of Dalits in India and the Black Afro-American
in the U.S.A.He found a member of parallel between Ambedkar and the Black radicalist W.E.B.
Du Bois. Also commenting on Arundhati Roy’s letter to Rajmohan Gandhi, Prof. Kapoor
compared Gandhi’s ideology with that of Ambedkar stressing upon how Gandhi focused on the
‘moral’ while Ambedkar on the ‘theoretical’ aspects of the treatment of the Dalits in India and
Dr. Meghwal talked about the ideology of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in contemporary era.

SYMPOSIUM I:

The session was chaired by Hon’ble Justice N.N.Mathur Former Vice Chancellor of NLU
who talked about the affirmative justice of Babasaheb & highlighted the need for
Transformative Jurisprudence.

The first speaker of the session Prof. Anand Kumar,(Redt. Prof.) Dept. of Political Science,
JNU, New Delhi explained the role of B. R. Ambedkar in nation building by presenting his
thought about Trivid Nyaya. While Prof. P.S.Bhati (Retd.Prof.) correlated the ideology of
Ambedkar with respect to different religion.

SYMPOSIUM II:

The session started with symposium titled Ambedkar’s Contribution towards Social Justice,
Emancipation & Empowerment. Prof. S.P. Gupta, JNVU ,Jodhpur who chaired the session
threw light upon Ambedkar’s principle of social justice. Prof. R.K. Makhwana, Dept.of
Sociology, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidhya Nagar, Gujarat, was the first speaker who
shared his views with regard to Ambedkar’s thought on treating people with equality & dignity.
Second speaker Dr. Umesh K. Rai, Associate Prof., Govt. Girls College, Alwar, talked about the
role of Buddhism in Ambedkar’s life and how he fought for human dignity and freedom.

TECHNICAL SESSION I:

The session was chaired by Prof Poonam Bawa, Dept. of Political Science, JNVU, Jodhpur and
Dr. Bhup Singh, Associate Prof. Dept. of Sociology, Dronacharya College , Gurgaon,
concluded the session with her view on Ambedkar’s contribution towards upliftment of the
marginalized section of the society.

DAY 2

TECHNICAL SESSION II:

The second day of the seminar was started with the second technical session chaired by Shri
Vishnu Charan Malik, District Collector, Jodhpur who discussed gender disparities in
education. Six papers were presented in this session. Prof. Tararam, JNVU, Jodhpur an expert
on Ambedkar’s ideology co-chaired the session and focused on Ambedkar’s contribution
towards economic development.

TECHNICAL SESSION III:

The session was chaired by the Prof. S.K.Meena, Dept. of Hindi, JNVU and co-chaired by the
Dr. L.N. Bunkar, Associate Prof. Dept. of Psychology, JNVU. Five papers were read by
different presenters in this session. After a long discussion the session ended with the concluding
note on Ambedkar’s Contribution as a Constitution Maker.
SYMPOSIUM III:

Prof. Sudhi Rajiv chaired the concluding symposium. Dr. B.K. Nagla (Retd. Prof.), Rohtak
University discussed the corner stone of Ambedkar’s philosophy & its relevance in the present
scenario of globalization & privatization. Shri M.L.Kumawat, former Vice Chancellor, SPUP,
Jodhpur asked audience if they could visualize the India of today without Ambedkar’s
contribution in myriads of ways.